"If you thought that short true-crime stories died with pulp magazines like "Headline Detective" or "Police Files," you might be surprised to learn that they live on in the pages of alternative big-city weeklies...Seven Sins is a dark tour of American society, where an art-school "co-ed," (a term dear to pulp writers of the past) courts imprisoned killers to fill an emotional void and a Scooby-Doo sticker on the window of a cabin in the woods proves to be a sick membership badge. It's a world as sordid and troubled as anything printed in the pulps of the '50s and '60s. Forensics and gadgetry might change. The human tendency to rape and kill, sadly, remains the same."~ Writer and editor Carroll Lachnit, the author of four murder mysteries, including "Murder in Brief" and "Janie's Law."

"A great idea for a new kind of crime story collection, and a powerful array of dark, muscular and constantly surprising tales. Seven Sins offers a cross-country tour of epic misdeeds."~ Stephen Fried, author of "Appetite for America" and "Thing of Beauty" and adjunct professor, Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.

"The best true crime writing allows us to feel that we're far stranger than we imagine ourselves to be. These stories evoke that feeling and that mystery, while taking us to extremes. Prepare to be riveted."~ Stephen Singular, "New York Times" bestselling author of ten true crime books, including Talked to Death: The Life & Murder of Alan Berg and When Men Become Gods: Mormon Polygamist Warren Jeffs, His Cult of Fear, And the Women Who Fought Back.

"Those who write about true crime must face the challenge that truth is stranger than fiction -- and messier and emptier and less coherent. All of which makes this collection the more remarkable. These Village Voice Media journalists have confronted the challenges head-on and produced a compelling yet chilling set of true-crime stories that would make Raymond Chandler jealous."~ Michael A. Kahn, attorney and award-winning author of Trophy Widow and other legal thrillers

"The devil is in the details, and the details abound in Seven Sins -- from "The Scooby Doo Files," which documents the capture of a ring of pedophile pornographers, to "The Case of the Kidnapped Coed," about a murder probe in the 1940s that was botched after a Denver newspaper hired the world-famous creator of Perry Mason to investigate, to "Killer Instinct," which takes the reader inside the mind of a serial-killer groupie. Seven Sins is crime reporting at its best: in-depth, interesting, insightful -- and, in a weird way, entertaining.~ Michael A. Wolff, former Chief Justice of the Missouri Supreme Court and professor at Saint Louis University's School of Law

"The acknowledgements for Seven Sins should include the miscreants, ne'er-do-wells, down-and-outers, recidivists, goofballs, and dumb-asses who enliven journalism today. In these pages the best of America's true crime writing reveals the worst of America's true crimes. Take your pick."~Tom Miller, award-winning author of The Panama Hat Trail and Trading With the Enemy: A Yankee Travels Through Castro's Cuba

"Seven Sins is a lively and well-written compilation of intriguing true-crime stories. Perfect if you are interested in having a few sips of the macabre."~Caitlin Rother, "New York Times" bestselling author of Lost Girls, Poisoned Love and Dead Reckoning

"Seven Sins is a terrific collection of true-crime stories, deeply reported, deftly told, with humanity peeking through the darkness."~James Neff, author of Mobbed Up and The Wrong Man: The Final Verdict on the Dr. Sam Sheppard Murder Case.

"Pulpy true-crime tales from master storytellers. This collection will have you checking the locks and turning on lights because truth is indeed stranger - and scarier - than fiction."~Denise Hamilton, crime novelist, Edgar Award finalist, editor of Los Angeles Noir